Road-grader axle assembly



A ril 1 1927.

p 2* F. E. ARNDT 'ROAD GRADER AXLE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 2l, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet I "IIIII Ime/d" a@ INNEN 1,624,127 April 12 1927' F. E. ARNDT ROAD GRADER AXLE ASSEMBLY VFiled Aug. 21, 1924 4 sheets-sheet 2 1,624,127 Aprll 12, 1927. F' E. ARNDT ROAD GRADER AXLE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 2l, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 April 12 1927. 1,624,127

F. E. ARNDT 'ROAD GRADER AXLE ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 2l, 1924 g zw 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 [rufe/Mr Wim? Patented Apr. 12, 1927.

UNTE STATES P ATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, OF GALON, OHO, ASSGNOR 3.10 THE GALON IRON WORKS &

MFG. CO., OF GALOH, O, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ROAD-GRADER AXLE ASSEJSIBLY.

Application filed August 21, 1924. Serial N0. 733,406.

r1`his invention relates to road graders and Scrapers, and particularly to that type of road grader wherein the front and rear wheels are adjustable into angular relations to vertical planes so as to tilt the wheels or lean them.

The general object of the invention is to provide improved means whereby the rear wheels of a. vehicle, such as a road tainer, road scraper or grader and the like, may be canted to any degree desired by the operator.

A further object is to provide a construction of this character which will not only permit the rear wheels to be tilted or leaned butwhich will permit either or both of the rear axles upon which the wheels are mounted to be laterally extended to any degree required and held in this adjusted position.

A still further object is to provide very simple and positively operating means for adjusting the angle of the wheels or adjusting t-he extension of the axles, and in this ,connection to provide means which are strong, rigid, positive acting, and yet simple.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated panying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a fragmentary rear elevation of a scraper and grader having extensible rear axles constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure S is a side elevation partly in section of the struct-ure shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is al fragmentary longitudinal section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic rear end elevation showing the manner in which the axles may be canted and extended;

In the drawings, 1 have illustrated only so much of a road grader as is su'liicient to show how my invention is applied and used. The road grader.v for which this improved rear axle assembly is particularly adapted, includes a supporting frame, a front axle to which the supporting frame is 4operatively in the accomconnected for swinging movement, as illustrate-d in my pending application for pat ent, Serial #782,540 filed on the 16th day of 'August- 1924, and a rear axle assembly which forms the subject-matter of the present application, a scraper mounted upon draft bars which are connected to the forward axle, means being provided whereby the blade of the scraper may be shifted into a number of different positions with relation to the road and line of draft, and an operators station mounted upon the frame at the rear end thereof and from which the adjustment of the front axle, the adjustment of the blade, and the adjustment of the rear axle are controlled and from which the steering of the grader is controlled. l/Vhile I de* sign that the front axle assembly, shown and described in my pending application above referred to, shall be used in connection with the rear axle vassembly now to be described, I do not wish to be limited to this as it is obvious that this rear axle assembly might be used with other front axle lassemblies wherein the wheels are tiltable.

Referring more specifically tothe drawings, 10 designates the longitudinal beams which form the frame. To these frame beams 10, which are preferably channel irons, there is attached the transversely extending angle irons 11, to which gusset plates 12 are attached andto which gusset plates the supporting yokes 13 are attached, these yokes exitending across the machine and supporting upon them the rear axle plate 14 which forms the base upon which certain parts of the mechanism are mounted.

Mounted upon this plate 14 and extending transversely of the beam is the middle guide 15 or double guide bar which has two laterally projecting flanges spaced from the plate 14. Upon the lateral margins of the plate are mounted the single guide bars 16, each having an inwardly directed flange spaced from the plate. These guide bars are held in place upon the plate by means of bolts or rivets. Each axle comprises a pair of angle irons 17 mounted to slide beneath the out- Yardly projecting flanges of the guides 14 and 15. These angle irons are connected to each other by a rack, the rack portion of which is designated 18, this rack being formed at intervals with transversely extending, tubular barrels or spacers 19 through which the rivets 20 pass which hold the angle irons against the ends of the barrels.

The under face of the rack portion 18 is formed with rack teeth 21, and mounted in bearings beneath the plate 14 are the parallel shafts 22, each shaft carrying upon it a gear wheel 23 adapted to engage with the rack teeth, it being noted that there is a shaft for each rack or for each axle section composed of the bars 17. The outer end of each shaft 22 is supported in a bracket 24 which forms part of a housing 25 upon the rear end of the machine, and within this housing the shaft is provided with a beveled gear wheel 26, this beveled gear wheel being also formed with an outwardly projecting annular flange 27 having a series of apertures 28 therein. Passing vertically downward through the housing 25 is a shaft 29 which carries at its lower end a beveled gear wheel 30. This beveled gear wheel is splined upon the shaft 29 and is held from longitudinal movement with the shaft so that this shaft maybe raised or lowered but in all positions will rotate the gear wheel. The lower end of each shaft 29 is reduced in diameter so as to form a locking stud 31 which is adapted to be inserted, when the shaft is lowered, in any one of the apertures 2S in the flange 27.

The upper end of this shaft is rotatably mounted in a bracket- 32 and carries a hand wheel 33 whereby it may be rotated, The shaft is urged downward by means of the spring 33a bearing against a collar 34 on the shaft, the upper end of this spring bearing against the bracket 32. The bracket also carries upon it a cam 35 and coacting therewith is a cani 36 which faces the cani 35 and is provided with a handle which bears against a collar 37 on the shaft. Thus when this handle is rotated, the shaft will be lifted by the cam against the action of the spring and this will lift the locking stud out of its apertures in the flange 27, and upon a reverse motion of the handle the spring will :ause the depression of the shaft and the engagement of the locking stud in the apertures in. the handle.

It will be obvious now that when the shaft 29 is rotated in one direction, it will rotate the corresponding shaft 22 and this will shift the axle composed of the sliding angle bars 17 and the rack bar transversely in one direction or the other to either extend the axle or retract the axle, and that when the shaft 2S) is lowered it acts to positively lock this shaft 22 and thereby hold the corresponding axle iu its extended position. There are, of course7 two of these axles arranged in parallel relation to each other each independently slidable and each controlled by its corresponding shaft 29.

Pivotally mounted on the end of each axle is a knuckle 38 having an upwardly extending arm 39 and an outwardly extending spindl-e or stub axle 40 upon which the wheels 41 are mounted. Each upwardly extending arm 39 has pivotally engaged therewith a pair of links 42, the other end of these links being attached to a movable member which is laterally adjustable to change the angle of the axle stub. The means for this purpose comprises a shaft 43 ext-ending inward from one side of the frame, and mounted in suitable bearings and carrying at one end the beveled gear wheel 44. This bevel-ed gear wheel is engaged by a beveled gear wheel 45 mounted upon a vertical shaft 4G carrying a hand wheel at its upper end.

Extending parallel to the shaft 43 are a pair of shafts 47 which are hexagonal in form, each shaft being mounted at its outer end in bearing brackets 4S, these bearing brackets also supporting the shaft 43, as shown most clearly in Figure The shaft is hexagonal in form, and mounted upon this shaft is a gear wheel 49 which engages with a pinion 50 mounted upon the shaft 43. Thus the rotation of the shaft 43 in either direction will cause the rotation of the two parallel shafts 47.. Sliding upon these shafts 47 is a worm bushing 51 which has a hexagonal bore all the way through it, through which the shaft 47 loosely passes. This bushing engages a fixed nut 52 which is moiuit-ed upon a bracket 53, the base of which in turn extends down and is disposed between the upwardly extending flanges of the angle irons 17 and is riveted or otherwise attach-ed thereto.

It will be seen that rotation of the shaft and of the worm 51 will cause a movement of the worm through the fixed nut in one direct-ion or the other. Each worm at on-e extremity is formed wit-h a swiveled collar 54. This collar depends from the worm sleeve 51 and extends down between the two angle irons 17 and islaterally angled so as to be guided between these angle irons. This collar is provided with the laterally projecting trunnions and the links 42 at their extremities ar-e provided with apertures through which these trunnions extend, the links being held to the trunnions by means of pivoted clips 56. The collar is, of course, formed in two parts bolted together by the bolts 57.

llt will be obvious now that with this construction, when. a rotation in one direction is git/'en to the shaft 46, the shafts 47 will be rotated in opposite directions. The screwthreads on the worm sleeves are pitched in the same direction. and as a consequence the worm sleeves will both shift in the same direction as they are rotated and thus the links 42 will be shifted in a direction to cause both of the spindles to turn into angular relations to a horizontal plane so that both rear wheels will be canted at the same angle,

as illust-rated in Figure 7, or in other words that both rear wheels will be leaned in one direction or the other. It will be obvious that if one or the other of the shafts 17 be rotated in one direction or the other that this will cause the corresponding axle section to be projected or retracted, and when an axle section is projected it carries with it the corresponding knuckle 38 and as the axle section is projected the bearing bracket 52 will also move with the axle section and this will carry with it the worm sleeve, which will slide upon the hexagonal shaft fl?, and inasmuch as the worm sleeve moves along the shaft e, tne links l2 will also be shifted correspondingly7 so that when the axle section is shifted outward or inward there will be necessarily no tilting movement of the stub axle upon which the wheel is carri-ed but that this tilting movement can only be secured by operating the shaft t6 and that this tilting movement of the wheels will occur whether both axl-e sections are fully projected or fully retracted or one axle section projected and the other retracted. This is for the reason that the worm sleeves slip along the hexagonal shafts and that the mechanism actuated by the worm sleeves and the worm sleeves themselves are always held .in the same relative position.

rl`he operation of my invention will be understood from what has gone before and the advantages of a construction of this character will be obvious. rlhe extensibility of the wheels permits one of the whe-els to operate on the'crown of t-he road, while the other wheel is down in a ditch without the high wheel having to run over a mass of earth which has been shifted upward by the mold board or scraper', and where operating upon a relatively flat road it is possible to so space the wheels apart that neither of the wheels will run upon the dirt which is being thrown to one side by the scraper. The wheels may he contracted to their normal position, which is that of ordinary scraper wheels, and at the saine time the wheels may be leaned or tilted to one side or the other. rlhis, in conjunction with the tilting front wheels, causes the machine to lean toward the road so that any tendency to side draft is resisted and the scraper does its work with much more effect than it otherwise would.

The grader and scraper is particularly adapted for cutting ditch-es, building up should-ers, and re-building and widening old roads and in like operations.

l claim l. ln a machine of the character described, an extensible rear axle section mounted for transverse movement to extend or retract the axle, a knuckle pivotally mounted upon the extremity of the axle section and carrying a wheel, means for operating said `knuckle including a shaft extending parallel to the axle section and held from longitudinal movement, a worm sleeve having rotative engagement with the shaft but being longitudinally shiftable therealong, a fixed member having screw-threaded engagementy with said worm sleeve to thereby cause a longitudinal movement of the worm sleeve as the worm sleeve is rotated, a member controlled by said worm sleeve and operatively connected to the knuckle, and means for manually rotating said Shaft.

2. ln a machine of the character described, a pair of rear axle sections mounted for independent movement transversely of the machine into retracted or projected positions, a knuckle pivoted for vertical oscillation upon the outer end of each of the axle sections and carrying a wheel, a shaft extending parallel to the axle section, a worm sleeve mounted upon said shaft for rotative movementtherewith but sliding movement thereon, a nut fixed to the axle section and with which said worm sleeve has screw-threaded engagement, a member controlled by the worm sleeve and operatively connected to the corresponding knuckle, and manually operable means common to both of said shafts whereby said shafts may be rotated to shift the knuckle in the same direction.

3. ln a machine of the character described, a pair of rear axle sections mounted for independent movement transversely of themachine into retracted or projected positions, a knuckle pivoted for vertical oscillation upon the outer end of each of the axle sections and carrying a wheel, a shaft extending parallel to the axle section, a worm sleeve mounted upon said shaft for rotative movement therewith but sliding movement thereon, a nut fixed to the axle section and with which said worm sleeve has screwthreaded engagement, a member controlled by the worm sleeve and operatively connected to the corresponding knuckle, manually operable means common to both of said shafts whereby said shafts may be rotated to shift the knuckle in the saine direction including a shaft extending parallel to the first two shafts, gear wheels on the lirst two shafts engaging with the last named shaft, and a manually operable shaft operatively engaged with the second named shaft.

el. ln a machine of the character described, a supporting frame, an axle section slidably mounted upon the frame for movement transversely of the length of the machine and carrying a wheel, means for shifting the axle section comprising a rack on the axle section, a gear wheel engaging the rack, a shaft upon which the gear wheel is mounted and having a beveled gear, an operating shaft for the beveled gear and having a beveled gear engaging the last named beveled gear, means on the operating shaft for locking the operating shaft from movement including a flange on the lirst named gear Wheel having a series of apertures, a stud on the operating shaft engageable into any one of said apertures, and means for raising or lowering the operating shaft to thereby carry the stud out ot and into said apertures, said means permitting the rotation of the shaft. l

In a machine of the character described, longitudinally extending frame beams7 Sup porting yokes engaged therewith, a supportI ing plate mounted upon the yokes, transversely extending pairs of guides operatively mounted upon the supporting plate, a pair of transversely extending axle sections, each mounted between a pair of guides and shiftable laterally,- a knuckle pivoted upon the outer' extremity of each axle section, the knuckle having an outwardly projecting stud and an upnf'ardly projecting arm, a Wheel mounted upon each stub, manually operable means for shifting either one of said axle sections independently of the other outward or inward, and manually operable means for tiltably adjusting botli knuckles simultaneously and in the same direction in all positions of the axle sections In testimony whereof l atlix my Signature.

FRANKLIN E. Al-NDT. 

